Ultimate Guide to La Liga Weekend: Top-3 Consistency and Highlighting Defenders

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Consistency: It's arguably the key word in football, in terms of successful seasons, but it's one of the most difficult aspects for a team to come by. That goes for anybody challenging for the title, striving to avoid relegation or improving year-on-year anywhere in between.

In La Liga, consistently winning games is an absolute prerequisite to the title hopefuls, but neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona have been able to make serious inroads in that regard of late.

Atletico Madrid's two-point lead at the top is, of course, partly down to the fact the Catalan side has played a game less but also thanks to Los Rojiblancos' unerring consistency in getting a result, whether by having dominated a fixture or simply doing enough to get over the line with three points.

Atleti's run of four successive wins in league play is the joint-best in La Liga, while their previous run of wins stretched to five.

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Regular defensive changes have not helped Real Madrid's cause

Real and Barca? Neither have managed to win more than a mere two back-to-back league games in months; the last time Barcelona won three on the spin came in November, while Real have to go back even further to late October and their three victories over Levante, Celta Vigo and Las Palmas.

Both of the chasing duo face tough matches in Week 21 as they look to finally get back to making it three victories on the run. It's a trip to face a resurgent Malaga for Luis Enrique's men and to Real Betis, with new boss Juan Merino in place, for Zinedine Zidane's.

Single games and results do not win or lose titles, but when patterns are repeated over a period of months, that is when you can begin to determine which way silverware might head.

Consistency is key in La Liga, and the forthcoming games present a good time to find out which of the title hopefuls can find it and put together a strong run toward the final third of the season.

Jornada 21 (kick-off times per Soccerway ^[1])

Friday

Sporting Gijon vs. Real Sociedad

Saturday

Malaga vs. Barcelona

Espanyol vs. Villarreal

Granada vs. Getafe

Rayo Vallecano vs. Celta Vigo

Sunday

Athletic Club vs. Eibar

Atletico Madrid vs. Sevilla

Deportivo La Coruna vs. Valencia

Real Betis vs. Real Madrid

Monday

Levante vs. Las Palmas

What to Watch Out for This Weekend

Part 1: The One Where...Nobody Defended

Want entertainment on Saturday? Tune in to Rayo Vallecano vs. Celta Vigo. Both teams are easy on the eye when in possession, love to play it forward quickly and get runners from the second line involved in build-up play and try to attack, attack and attack.

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Gustavo Cabral (left), one of Celta's lesser-spotted centre-backs

Like a mixture of a sitcom and an indie thriller, this match will throw up excitement at the aggressive offensive play, hilarity at the lack of structured defence on both sides and a whole bunch of names you almost recognise who could certainly go on to do much bigger and better things if they come up with that one big hit.

Celta's front line has been productive of late against lower-half sides, but the team lacks balance in midfield and protection of the defence. Rayo are managed by Paco Jemez, so disorganisation, offensive mindsets and points-costing errors in the defensive half come as standard.

Don't miss the goal-fest.

Part 2: A Basque Derby in Which the Smallest Side Is Favourite

Athletic Club and Eibar are two hugely different clubs in terms of their Liga history. One has never been relegated outside of the top flight, has a vociferous backing in a new stadium and a proud tradition of fighting spirit and only plays those of a Basque heritage.

The other is the smallest club in the top flight, has turned over about two entire squads in the last two years and finished in the relegation zone in their first season in the top flight in Spain but avoided demotion thanks to Elche's financial indiscretions.

This year, Eibar are much better set to avoid the drop—in fact, they are far beyond that. They stand sixth in La Liga with one of the most hardworking yet aggressively offensive sides around. There is a fine balance in the team, and Eibar are on a four-match win streak, the joint-best in La Liga right now.

The game is at Nuevo San Mames, but that's no guarantee of a win for Athletic, who have won five of their nine games at home so far this term. Eibar have won, drawn and lost three of each on their travels so will arrive with no fear, nothing to lose and plenty to gain, not least because they know they will remain the highest-ranked Basque side in La Liga after the weekend regardless of the result.

Player to Watch: Shkodran Mustafi, VAL

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Finally back to fitness, German centre-back Shkodran Mustafi has returned to the Valencia defence, and manager Gary Neville will hope he hits top gear as quickly as possible.

The aggressive and burly defender will need to be alert to deal with the non-stop movement of Deportivo's Lucas Perez on Sunday as Los Che seek to finally find a first league win under the new manager. Valencia have slipped into the bottom half of the table, and by the time they take to the field, they will have gone 78 days without a league win.

It has to come to an end fast, and that means building from the back. Mustafi is key to their hopes and must shackle an attack-minded Depor with lots to play for and plenty of talent.

Game of the Weekend: Atletico vs. Sevilla

Top-of-the-table Atleti vs. seventh-placed Sevilla should really only yield a result one way. While on the face of it the Andalusian club should give the capital team a reasonable match, Atleti were hugely superior for most of the game in the 3-0 win at the Sanchez Pizjuan earlier on in the season, and Los Rojiblancos are a major force, especially at home.

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Rumour has it, even Jackson Martinez scored in this game earlier on in the season

Sevilla, on the other hand, have not won a single game on the road all season long—lowly Las Palmas are the only other Liga club without an away win.

Given Sevilla's inability to hit the back of the net away from home and boss Unai Emery's frustrating penchant for unnecessary changes to the attacking portion of the lineup, it seems unlikely the Europa League holders will be unable to change that stat against the side at top of the table.

Atleti have won four in a row with a clean sheet in each; the money is on a narrow home win, maybe by 1-0 or 2-0 with a late killer second in true Diego Simeone style. If they do win, it will be the boss' 100th victory in La Liga, and he'll have guided the team to it in the third-shortest time in history, 157 games, per ^[2] Marca, beating out the likes of Johan Cruyff and just behind Pep Guardiola and Miguel Munoz.